#ukaiya

[ukaiya]

The Last Guardian - Official Set of 5 Lithographs

A set of 5 high quality prints of promotional screenshots/artwork (3 of which are in-game screenshots, one is the game’s cover artwork, and one is a collage of in-game graphics), printed on A4 size card, reverse sides are blank. The prints come with a card “pocket” they can be stored in.

[the-nest]

CALLING ALL TRICOKIN!

We’re a brand new skype group, aiming to bring all sorts of Tricokin back together after so long away from the Nest and the Valley. Want to join up? Just check out our blog and you can! 

Tell your friends! Scream! Reblog! The Tricokin tag is empty and we need to remedy that - let’s get together, folks!

(small note: we’d like to keep this to Tricos only, so no Boy-kin, please! We just don’t want the worry of doubles and all that, you know?)

[landsoflightanddark]

Listen, y’all gotta go follow @ukaiya if you haven’t already.  I’m more of a reporter/transcriber/occasional opinion guy (occasional nothing guy as of late, lol), but they have actual content and actually look at stuff in the games and share cool things.  Everything they post is rebloggable but I’m not gonna reblog too much of it because it’s their blog!!  Just go follow them!!  And they have a Youtube channel now so surely there will be content in them there hills.

[ukaiya]

(TricoSecrets) - Analysis

A while back when The Last Guardian first came out, a series of tweets titled “(TricoSecrets)” were posted in succession hinting at verious little features of the game, some more “secret” than others. I’d like to go through each one of these TricoSecrets and explain each a little bit, sharing my thoughts and theories behind them:

(TricoSecrets) 1 - Take a look at Trico's movements when you are stuck in your journey, Trico might be able to hint at something!

This first “secret” is farily straightforward, if you’re stuck in the game unable to progress, one way the game will communicate hints to the player (apart from voicelines) is through Trico’s body language. I think a lot of players who struggled with this game simply didn’t think to do this, since it’s actually a major help when you’re stuck (though Trico will also get distracted by unimportant things in some instances, just like a real animal would, which may confuse the player).

The screenshot for this TricoSecret was taken secifically at the beginning of the game in the cave where the boy first meets Trico. After you pick up the mirror and return to Trico, the next step required to progress is to use the mirror to guide Trico’s tail lightning and destroy a bunch of rubble and wooden planks that are blocking the way out of the cave. If the player ignores Trico for a while before doing this, Trico will walk around the cave doing its own thing, like sniffing the ground, scratching itself or, in some cases like in this screenshot, scratching at the rubble blocking the exit (much like a cat or a dog scratching at a door to be let out...), providing a hint at what to do next for the player. I don’t believe Trico will perform this specific behaviour until after the player has the mirror, but I may be wrong as I don’t have solid proof of this.

Some other instances of Trico interacting with the environment to provide progression hints, off the top of my head, include:

- Trico playing with the chain (he will play with the chain with and without the jar attached, though with the jar he will actually grab it with his mouth and tug it):

- Trico playing with the see-saw/chariot (like the chain, Trico will show interest and play with it even when it is empty):

- Trico playing with the wall-mounted wheel found in the same arena as the see-saw/chariot. Trico will do this even without being commanded by the player, though I believe he will not actually successfully open the gates by scratching the wheel until the player commands it:

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(TricoSecrets) 2 - Concerned about Trico's wounds or ruffled feathers? Petting those areas might remove the stains and tidy up those feathers!

This TricoSecret hints at two of the functions of the pet command in The Last Guardian: Cleaning blood from Trico’s wounds and smoothing out ruffled feathers. This can be done by holding the circle button (O) near an affected part of Trico’s body while the boy is either climbing on Trico or standing very near, it will cause the blood to slowly fade out and the feathers to slowly flatten within a range of wherever the boy is petting Trico.

Though this feature is obvious to many, I have actually witnessed a few gameplay videos from different people where the player did not notice they could do this!

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(TricoSecrets) 3 - Feed Trico whenever you find a barrel, something good might come out of it if you do it frequently enough!

This TricoSecret is mainly referring to the unlockables in The Last Guardian. Several items can be unlocked depending on the number of barrels Trico has been fed in total:

- 32 Barrels: Homecoming Costume

- 48 Barrels: Horned Apparel

- 64 Barrels: Warrior’s clothes

- 96 Barrels: Fine Featherpainter

(Two more items can be unlocked that have no connection to the number of barrels fed: Badge of Honor and Enduring Attire, both of which are unlocked by completing the game once)

Since there are only 48 barrels in the game, the player has to play through the game at least twice to unlock every item.

Apart from unlockables, this TricoSecret may also be referring to how Trico’s temperament will improve after being fed a barrel in some parts of the game. It may even be referring to a more direct effect of the barrel feeding, Trico’s poop! However this seems less likely since mechanically I believe there is no correlation between Trico’s pooping and the amount of barrels it has been fed, I’m pretty sure Trico does this completely randomly.

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(TricoSecrets) 4 - Trico staring at a barrel with changed eye colour? Why not throw a barrel at Trico, Trico might be able to catch it mid air!

This is another one of the more obvious “secrets”, Trico’s eyes change colour when it sees a barrel. I personally find that waiting in place for a moment before throwing a barrel to Trico massively improves the chances of them catching it, I guess it gives Trico a moment to “calculate” and get into position.

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(TricoSecrets) 5 - If you keep petting Trico, there's a rare chance that you might be able to put Trico to sleep.(1/2)

Perhaps the key to it is to pet Trico in a comfortable looking, wide open area?(2/2)

This TricoSecret is divided into two separate tweets, perhaps to add a bit of a surprise without instantly revealing how to do this.

In my experience, getting Trico to sleep requires an open area, and continuous petting without letting go of the circle button until Trico yawns, lies down, and falls asleep. This seems to work as long as you are on top of Trico (not hanging off the side), though it seems to happen a lot faster if you pet their head. If you attempt to make Trico sleep in an area where there is not enough room to lie down, Trico will perform the usual animations and routine by yawning and lying down, but will immediately stand back up after lying down instead of sleeing.

Once Trico is sleeping there are a few ways you can wake them up:

- You can simply call Trico (the boy may whisper instead of yell if he is near Trico while it sleeps)

- You can jump up and down on top of Trico

- You can tug on one of Trico’s ears or tail

There are a few other possible ways of waking up Trico that I have not yet tested out but I am curious about, such as getting caught by a yoroi, approaching with a barrel, or using the mirror to summon lightning.

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(TricoSecrets) 6 - Other than Trico, there might be other creatures living in the valley too. Try looking for them!

This secret is hinting at the other life forms in the crater! Apart from Tricos, I have observed lizards, doves, bats, grasshoppers, moths, butterflies, fireflies, fish, millipedes and even tiny versions of the lizards. Frogs can be heard but I don’t think they have a physical presence in the game.

The screenshot specifically shows us one of the many lizards seen in the game. These lizards are particularly fascinating for me because they hint at a connection between the world of The Last Guardian and the Forbidden Lands in Shadow of The Colossus, much like the pool in the mirror room, which looks suspiciously similar to the pool in the Shrine of Worship. The only major difference between the lizards in The Last Guardian and the ones in Shadow of the Colossus is that none of the ones in the former have white tails.

At some point in the future I will make a post dedicated to all the small life forms of the crater, some of which I think no one else has mentioned before.

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(TricoSecrets) 7 - When Trico is stuck in a tight space, tackling and so forth can help in getting Trico unstuck!

This one is very straightforward, if Trico gets it’s head stuck in a hole you can use the shove/tackle command to help get it’s head unstuck.

I’ve noticed there are two different “head stuck” animations for Trico depending on the tunnel or window, one where just the head sticks out, and one where Trico will attempt to climb through the hole and get it’s head and one paw stuck in the hole.

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(TricoSecrets) 8 - Trico all worked up and agitated after a fight? Try calming Trico down by calling Trico out!

This secret tells us how calling out to Trico can help calm them down after a fight. Apart from fights, Trico can also become agitated by the presence of the other Trico, and after seeing a stained glass eye. Calling Trico can help it focus on the boy to stop it from hopping around too much, allowing the boy to climb on top and pet it to calm it down further.

The best places to pet Trico when they are agitated are in the “shoulder” area between the wings, and on the top of the head, with petting on top of the head being the quickest way to calm Trico down (though also once of the hardest spots to reach when Trico is flailing about). It is easy to tell when Trico has calmed down because its’eyes will stop glowing, the wings will stop flapping and its’ feathers will flatten (amongst other signs).

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(TricoSecrets) 9 - If you missed a hint, why not press and hold down the left controller stick? The boy will recall the most recent tip.

This TricoSecret is referring to the “meditate” command, which is, as stated in the tweet, done by clicking and holding down the left stick. This will make the boy sit down and the last hint or voiceline will play back, as if the boy was remembering it (even though canonically this would not make sense as the voice represents the boy in the future retelling his past).

Meditiation can be performed on any flat surface provided that nothing makes the boy move (such as Trico bumping into the boy). You can even meditate on top of Trico provided they are sitting still enough (the easiest way to achieve this is while Trico is asleep).

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(TricoSecrets) 10 - When butterflies are flying near the boy, could it mean that a barrel is hidden somewhere nearby?

A very straightforward “secret”, the answer is of course “Yes”.

I have nothing else to say about this particular one without delving into my own theories about the meaning of the butterflies. Mechanically, the presence of blue butterflies always means there is a barrel nearby.

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(TricoSecrets) 11 - Trico seems to be always howling at that area.

This TricoSecret is a nice nod to the plot foreshadowing that happens at several points in the game. Any time you exit to an outdoor area with a view of the white tower, sure enough Trico will take a moment to angrily call out to it, completely ignoring the boy. Sometimes they will even rear up on their back legs and flap their wings, as if attempting to fly up to it.

Even if the player manages to miss this at some point, it happens enough times throughout the game that the player is almost guaranteed to see it happen. It serves as a nice hint that the white tower is an important part of the game, and provides the player with a “destination” to keep in mind, as every time they see the tower they will be able to see how far they have climbed up through the valley, based on how close the white tower appears to be.

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(TricoSecrets) 12 - Looks like some sort of…nest?

This TricoSecret is one of the most interesting ones, because I never realised genDesign officially acknowledged the “nests” found around the crater (outside of the “An Extraordinary Story” book).

Appart from this nest above one of the antenna rooms, there exist two more nests in the valley, as spotted by NomadColossus in his “Exploring the Last Guardian” videos (1 and 6). One of the nests is located near the “Ico windmill”, seen from the very first outdoor area, and one is located near the building with the collapsed roof (collapsed by Trico after falling off a cliff after being attacked by the armoured trico). Images of the nests below are screenshots from Nomad’s videos:

And here is a piece of concept art for the nests (with some brief commentary) as seen in An Extraordinary Story:

I’d like to follow up with a bit of speculation:

My best explanation for these structures is that they were built by Tricos. The fact that the developers officially hint towards them being nests makes this very likely, and they do resemble a large-scale version of a nest a bird might make.

At first I thought these might serve a different purpose than being literal nests, since they look very uncomfortable to sit in (they appear to be made of wood planks, barrels, chains, metal railings, ropes and tree branches, amongst other things), however it doesn’t seem too odd when you compare it to real life species of birds who make their nests out of similarly uncomfortable materials, such as Gentoo penguins, who build their nests out of rocks. Another possible explanation for why these nests are made out of seemingly uncomfortable materals could be that there is simply nothing else around to build them with, as the valley mostly consists of human-made structures, so the Tricos resorted to using manufactured materials.

Something to note is that all these nests are either abandoned or otherwise unused and empty. To me, they look a bit too small for a Trico, and are possibly all failed attempts at building a nest in an inconvenient location. Perhaps the Yoroi purposefully destroy any Trico nests they can reach, so the only spots left are not particularly suitable for a Trico to nest in?

Whatever the reason for these nests being built, it seems to me that it was instinct that drove the Tricos to build them, which explains why they tried to build a nest around the statue (barrel dispenser) at the top of the white tower, which (presumably) looks like a Trico hatchling.

More on the statue at the top of the white tower here

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(TricoSecrets) 13 - No matter who's holding the stained glass, Trico hates it!

In some parts of the game, the Yoroi will come out of the blue doors holding a stained-glass eye shield, a smaller version of the ones seen hanging in different parts of the valley. If the Yoroi holding the shield is knocked out, it will drop it’s shield and the boy will be able to pick it up the same way he can pick up barrels and Yoroi helms.

Even with the boy holding it, Trico is still afraid of the pattern on the shield, as stated in the TricoSecrets tweet, meaning that it’s fear is so deeply rooted that it trumps it’s trust in the boy (except for on one occasion on the first visit to the white tower). If trico tramples the shield, it will break. It can also be broken by lightning, having an item dropped on it (such as a Yoroi helm), or from fall impact.

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(TricoSecrets) 14 - There are times when the boy can defeat the armour by himself.

This is referring to the boy’s ability to defeat Yoroi by grabbing onto their helmets and separating them from the rest of the armour. This can only be done if the Yoroi is first knocked out (after being tackled by Trico, for example). Defeating 10 Yoroi in this manner will unlock a gold trophy (Losing their Minds).

One of Trico’s ways of defeating Yoroi is similar to this, as Trico will sometimes grab Yoroi by the helmet and shake it’s head violently until the body comes apart.

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(TricoSecrets) 15 - For some post game extras, check out the item section under the options.

This “secret” is just explaining how to get to the item menu to equip any unlocked objects and apparel.

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(TricoSecrets) 16 - A wide variety of illustrations are displayed on the loading screen, among them you might come across some rare ones!

Now here’s a secret I had no idea about. I knew about the random illustrations in the loading screen, and I’ve been trying to collect them all as screenshots for a long time now, but I have never seen this whale illustration before. The rarest illustration I’ve seen in the loading screen is the different angle Trico render (see here).

Now that I know about this, I am particularly intrigued to see if I can spot any more of these “rare” loading screen illustrations in my next playthrough. I will definitely share it on here if I find anything unusual. I wonder how many there are in total.

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(TricoSecrets) 17 - The more missteps that he takes, such as being captured by the amours, the darker the tattoos will get.

This TricoSecret comes with a nice side by side comparison of the boy’s tatoos at their minimum and maximum stages. These screenshots have been taken at the exact same time and space (note the grass and butterflies in the exact same position in the background), so I assume these were taken in a developer build of the game.

Below is a diagram illustrating the 8 stages of progression that the boy’s tattoos can go through, from An Extraordinary Story:

Additionally, here is another, more abstract illustration of the boy’s arm tattoos, from a small booklet that came with the Japanese First Print limited edition of The Last Guardian:

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(TricoSecrets) 18 - Oh dear... what might this costume be?

I find the images they picked to show off these costumes particularly smart.

- The first image shows the Horned Apparel costume, which is supposed to make the boy look like Ico. In the photo they have the boy pushing a crate along the ground, which is something you do a lot as Ico since they are key components to a lot of the puzzles in the game.

- The second image shows the Warrior’s Clothes costume, which make the boy look like Wander. The photo again is contextually appropriate, since although the boy is removing a spear from Trico, he almost looks like he is attacking Trico with the spear, as if he were Wander stabbing a colossus.

Note the attention to detail on these costumes, such as the appropriate footwear based on the characters and the corresponding sigils on their clothes. The Ico costume even wraps bandages around the boy’s head just like the ones Ico wears.

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(TricoSecrets) 19 - It’s possible to break these pillars by drawing Trico to come running towards them. Someone, somewhere has seen it before…

To be honest, I have never been able to get Trico to do this myself, I’m not sure why. But it is definitely possible and well documented on YouTube.

I believe “Someone, somewhere has seen it before...” is referring to the 2015 e3 gameplay trailer for the game, where the first thing Trico does after appearing is knock down these exact pillars.

For a while I thought this was impossible to do in the final build of the game, as the exit Trico has to run from to knock down the stone pillars is different in design in the release version of the game; there is now a descending staircase instead of a flat corridor leading up to them.

Still, here is some gameplay footage from the finished game by Brian Davidson, who has managed to find a way to get Trico to knock down the pillars just like in the old build.

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(TricoSecrets) 20 - For some post game fun, there is this item called the "Fine Featherpainter". Wonder what happens when used on Trico...?

The Fine Featherpainter is one of my favourite unlockable items in the game, even if it is a bit finnicky and hard to control precisely. It allows the player to customise Trico’s plumage by spraying it with different colours.

Below are two screenshots of my custom Trico, who I painted to resemble a raccoon (complete with banded tail):

It’s hard to get the colours exactly where you want them as Trico moves around a lot (I recommend sending Trico to sleep before trying this) but the result can be very rewarding, as the colours never wash off (unless you manually remove them with the featherpainter or reset your save) and carry over between playthroughs of the game, so you can play The Last Guardian with your own unique Trico. The colours even show up in cutscenes! 

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(TricoSecrets) 21 - Though we are far apart, the circle button binds us.

The last TricoSecret posted on genDesign’s twitter page.

This one is definitely hinting at the easter egg in Trico’s cave at the very end of the game. When the player presses the circle button, Trico’s horns will light up, symbolising the still existing unbreakable bond between the boy (now grown up) and Trico. Since we know that there are at least three tricos in hidden in the cave (2 extra pairs of eyes can be seen if the screen brightness is high enough), but only one of the three tricos’ horns light up, we can be certain that this is our bonded Trico:

Interesting to note: Though We Are Far Apart is also the name of the bronze trophy unlocked for completing the game for the first time.

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And that about wraps it up for my analysis of these “TricoSecrets”. Hope it was an interesting read.

Please feel free to request a “keep reading” break if this post is messing up your dash.

On the topic of twitter, I’ve recently started up a twitter account as a companion to this blog, where I’ll be linking to this blog whenever it updates and probably retweeting ICO/SOTC/TLG related stuff. It’s ukai_ya, thanks a lot if you check it out!

[ukaiya]

The Last Guardian - Only on Playstation edition

Front and back artwork:

Source [X]

[ukaiya]

New video up on my YouTube channel today, a speedpaint-style video of me painting my Trico to look like a raccoon.

I also put together a (very rough) diagram of how I coloured my Trico, in case anyone felt like replicating it in their own game:

The images I used for this are taken from An Extraordinary Story, since I couldn’t find any clear images of Trico without a background online.

For fun, I also used the rest of the unused colours (I only used the black “spray” for raccoon Trico) on the end of Trico’s tail. Colouring Trico’s tail using multiple coloured bands like this is also a fun way of tracking the progression of Trico’s tail growth throughout the game!

[ukaiya]

Beta (PS3) Environment Imagery for The Last Guardian

Recently 3D environment and VFX artist Rasmus Deguchi shared some of his environment work he made for The Last Guardian when the game’s development was still in its PS3 phase.

Even though its likely a lot of these never made it into the final PS4 release version of the game, it’s a real treat for me to get to see new beta imagery for this game. The last image I included is particularly special for me since Deguchi states on his artstation post that it is work done for “the vast landscape surrounding the playable area“, meaning that what we’re seeing here is the world of The Last Guardian beyond the crater/nest!

I encourage anyone interested to check out the original post on ArtStation which includes some more images of environment work I didn’t include here, plus captions explaining what each of the images actually are in reference to the game.

Rasmus Deguchi previously worked with Japan Studio on The Last Guardian and is now part of a relatively new indie studio Friend & Foe who just released their new game Vane on PC (previously on PS4 only).

[ukaiya]

Shadow of the Colossus - Only on Playstation edition

Front and back artwork:

Source [X]

[ukaiya]

Absolutely beautiful fanmade Yoroi costume Ueda just retweeted. I love that this was shot inside an arch, reminds me of several different locations the Yoroi can be found "sleeping" in the game.

Source [X]

[ukaiya]

Team Ico DLC Pack for LittleBigPlanet (released 2009)

This official DLC pack included:

- 5 costume sets (Ico, Yorda, Wander, Quadratus, Gaius)

- A set of Shadow of the Colossus stickers (see below)

- A set of sound effects from Ico and Shadow of the Colossus (see here)

Interestingly, the colossi included in this pack as costumes are referred to by their fan-names Quadratus and Gaius on Media Molecule’s website, which I imagine is as usual due to them being mistaken for official names due to their very widespread use.

The sticker set also seems to contain some original artwork produced by Media Molecule specifically for this DLC set. The Agro headshot, 3rd Colossus headshot and stylised weak point emblem on the right all seem to be unique artwork. The 1st Colossus artwork in the top right also looks unique but I am less sure about this one.

Descriptions for the DLC pack on the official MM website can be found here and here.

[ukaiya]

horizon

[ukaiya]

Enjoy a quick felt pen quadratus doodle by me while I'm still to busy to get back on making proper posts on this blog. Thanks for sticking around as usual

[ukaiya]

close bond

[ukaiya]

brave new world

[ukaiya]

Stone Arches in the Valley

Throughout the Valley in there are 3 stone arches (as far as I am aware anyway, there may be more to be found out of bounds) found in the more peaceful areas. I compiled a short video of them in-game for the sake of presentation.

The locations of these stone arches are as follows (in playthrough order):

Stone Arch 1: First forested area, before first antenna

Stone Arch 2: In open area where first sighting of the other Trico occurs

Stone Arch 3: Cliff in front of “hanging mobile” with giant glass eye

I also located these on a high-res map of the valley by CandyKillerArt:

Now, I wanted to share some of my thoughts and observations about these stone arches, and what they might represent. Under the cut:

Firstly I should point out that these are slightly significant beyond being random environment assets because of the attention they received in development and the detail that has gone into them. Note that the first stone arch is smaller than the other two, and also has a unique 3D model (while they could have just reused the same model for all of them). There is even concept art specifically for the stone arches (featured in some of the art books), illustrating how the boy can interact with them, walking on top or crawling beneath them:

(if anyone here happens to be able to read japanese handwriting, a translation would be very appreciated!)

If I wanted to keep things simple, I would say there is no real significance to these arches, and that they simply exist to give the player a way to interact and explore the environment in a fun way, and to give the open areas some more interesting features (since these stone arches are only ever seen in open-air locations). However, I still think it’s fun to speculate about these things as a fan of this game, even if sometimes it really is “not that deep”.

While I don’t think personally there is any significance to the places these arches are located, or the number of them, I do think their structure in interesting. I had a look around the valley for places these arches may have detached from (and miraculously landed upright?) and didn’t find any obvious origin for them, however something else caught my attention:

I think they bear a significant resemblence to the “anchor point” Trico is chained to at the beginning of the game.

Looking at this from a birdseye view, it’s easy to imagine the arches being half of this stone circle, stood on its side.

Exactly why they look like this stone circle, I really have no idea. Maybe it could be that there were once more trico “chain anchors” around the Valley, and now they have eroded and for some reason they were repositioned like this? Or maybe this happened the other way around, and these stone arches (which had some other unknown use/significance were repurposed for the trico chain device. I have some other, more out-there thoughts about their origins though:

It’s interesting to note that these stone arches seem to be made of already eroded pieces of stone, so I don’t think these structures are as old as the rest of the architecture in the Valley, and instead put together by someone or something using pieces that have eroded and fallen off nearby structures. This seems to indicate some form of intelligent life that inhabitated the valley sometime after it was presumably “evacuated” or the inhabitants were killed.

I don’t think these structures were put together by tricos or yoroi. The only candidate left, though I know this is a huge stretch, is kidnapped people who managed to evade their inevitable fate at the white tower, at least temporarily (much like our protagonish boy). Ueda has mentioned before that the event of a person being regurgitated by a trico once in the valley in not as rare of an event as we may think, as well as the clarification that the people tricos will abduct are not limited to children, and that they will happily take adults too (perhaps children are more commonly victims due to being more vulnerable). So with this information at hand, it is possible that an adult found themself in the valley, and built these stone arches out of the rubble around them. Perhaps there is a religious significance to them, maybe they are markers, or maybe they were constructed simply out of boredom.

To explain what I mean by “temporarily” avoiding their fate at the white tower in the previous paragraph, I have a few thoughts about the Yoroi’s purpose of making sure no one is able to live in the Valley unnoticed. I think at some point, all of the people who were accidentally regurgitated by clumsy tricos and released in the valley, were inevitably found by the Yoroi or a stray trico, and brought back to the Master. The Boy is the one exception to this, who managed to evade all attempts of being brought back to the Master and eventually put an end to the vicious cycle. I have more to elaborate on all of this, but I will save it for another post some other time as this is getting off track. I mostly just wanted to provide a bit of context for my ideas.

This concludes my long and rable-y thoughts on the stone arches in The Last Guardian. Again, most of this is over-the-top speculation on a likely insignificant detail, but it was fun to theorise about nontheless. Thanks for reading if you got all the way through!

[ukaiya]

I’ve updated my about page with some info on the blog overall and a little about myself too. I’ve also included a paragraph explaning the origin of my URL name in case anyone’s curious.